Where We Work - Gates Ag One

Collaboration, not competition, delivers the best results.

Our Focus Regions

Gates Ag One focuses on those regions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where the scale of need and market viability are greatest.

Smallholder farmers make an essential contribution to the global food system, yet they face increasingly challenging conditions both on the demand and supply side. This includes climate change, lack of access to agricultural technologies, growing populations, and evolving consumer preferences.

Specifically, our initial countries of engagement are seven African countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda; and two South Asian countries: India and Bangladesh. The near-term regional focus is sub-Saharan Africa.

Note: this map depicts the borders recognized by the United Nations and does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of Gates Agricultural Innovations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Burkina Faso

Country Profile

22.6 million population
40 million by 2050
41% poverty rate
11.6 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Cowpea: 0.7 ($274 million value)
Sorghum: 1.8 ($452 million value)
Maize: 1.9 ($567 million value)

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 73%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 20.4%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Maize is the second-most important source of income for farmers in Burkina Faso, behind only cotton.
85% of smallholder farmers in Burkina Faso rely on the informal seed sector for most crops.

Sources:
World Bank, AgEcon Search

Ethiopia

Country Profile

123 million population
213 million by 2050
23.5% poverty rate
23.2 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Sorghum: 5 ($1.3 billion value)
Maize: 10 ($2 billion value)
Soybean: 0.2 ($5.6 million value)

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 64%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 37.6%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Sorghum is produced by roughly 4.9 million households in Ethiopia.
Smallholder farms account for more than 90% of the cultivated area and output in Ethiopia.

Sources:
Science Direct, IFPRI

Nigeria

Country Profile

218 million population
374 million by 2050
40.1% poverty rate
86 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Cowpea: 3.6 ($462 million value)
Maize: 12.7 ($1.3 billion value)
Cassava: 63 ($3 billion value)

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 35%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 23.7%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Cassava provides food and income to over 30 million farmers in Nigeria.
Smallholder farmers produce up to 90% of Nigeria’s food.

Sources:
Agricultural and Food Economics, IFAD

Ghana

Country Profile

32.8 million population
51 million by 2050
23.4% poverty rate
5.8 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Cowpea: 0.2
Cassava: 22.6
Rice: 1.2

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 39%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 18.8%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Cassava contributes around 22% of Ghana’s agricultural GDP.
Smallholder farmers account for 70% of the total population employed in the agricultural sector in Ghana.

Sources:
Cassava – Biology, Production and Use, World Bank

Kenya

Country Profile

54 million population
84 million by 2050
36.1% poverty rate
12.5 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Cowpea: 0.25
Maize: 3.3
Cassava: 0.7

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 33%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 21.2%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Maize contributes up to 68% of daily per capita cereal consumption in Kenya, and 35% of total dietary energy consumption.
Smallholder farmers produce up to 63% of Kenya’s food.

Sources:
PLoS One, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Rwanda

Country Profile

13.7 million population
22 million by 2050
39.1% poverty rate
3.4 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Sorghum: 0.17 ($71 million value)
Maize: 0.48 ($154 million value)
Cassava: 1.3 ($266 million value)

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 55%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 24.9%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Cassava is grown by more than 700,000 family farms in Rwanda.
75% of Rwanda’s agricultural production comes from smallholder farmers

Sources:
IFAD, Rwanda Development Board

Uganda

Country Profile

47 million population
86 million by 2050
20.3% poverty rate
8 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Rice: 0.3
Soybean: 0.16
Cassava: 2

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 63%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 24.1%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Cassava flour accounts for 50% of cassava production in Uganda, compared to dried cassava chips (45%) and raw cassava (5%).
Smallholder farmers make up an estimated 80% of the agricultural workforce in Uganda.

Sources:
UNDP

India

Country Profile

1.4 billion population
1.6 billion by 2050
21.9% poverty rate
200 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Sorghum: 4.8 ($1.1 billion value)
Soybean: 12.6 ($4 billion value)
Rice: 195 ($79 billion value)

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 44%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 16.6%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Rice production, alone, contributes to roughly 10% of agricultural GDP in India.
70% of India’s rural households depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82% of farmers being small and marginal.

Sources:
MPRA, FAO

Bangladesh

Country Profile

171 million population
200 million by 2050
24.3% poverty rate
45.4 million facing food insecurity

Sources:
World Bank, United Nations, World Food Programme

Crop Production (million tons)

Rice: 54.9 ($11 billion value)
Maize: 4.1 ($773 million value)
Soybean: 0.1 ($40 million value)

Sources:
FAOSTAT

Agricultural Profile

Agriculture as % of employment: 37%
Agriculture as % of GDP: 11.2%

Sources:
World Bank

Did you know?

Rice provides around 48% of rural employment in Bangladesh, and 50% of the population’s protein intake.
Small and medium-scale farmers account for more than 98% of the total farms in Bangladesh.

Sources:
BRKB, Open Agriculture